Laser leveling tool with gesture control

ABSTRACT

A laser leveling tool comprising: gesture control means comprises at least one sensor adapted to sense gestures and/or movements of a user; and a controller in communication with the gesture control means for receiving signals from the sensor and generating control commands for the tool based on the received signals, the control commands comprising at least ON/OFF states of laser beam patterns that the tool can project.

This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 National Stage Application ofPCT/CN2018/105144, filed on Sep. 12, 2018 in China, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The disclosure relates to a laser leveling tool having gesture controlfunctionalities for controlling the operation of the laser levelingtool.

BACKGROUND

Laser leveling tools or levelers are generally used in construction anddecoration industries. A conventional laser leveling tool comprises atleast one laser beam emitter for emitting a laser beam which isprojected onto a target surface to form a predefined pattern serving asa reference for facilitating operation during construction orremodeling.

Laser leveling tools generally have HMIs via which users can control theoperations of the laser leveling tools. HMIs of current laser levelingtools comprise physical press buttons to input commands of the users,like inputting initial settings, selecting and toggling differentprojection modes, or the like. A laser leveling tool is generallylevelled in a proper position and orientation before operation, so thepress actions may affect the levelled position and orientation of theleveling tool and thus there may be error or deflection in the projectedpattern of the leveling tool.

In addition, when the leveling tool are designed to be able to projectmore types of patterns (for example, dot, line, plane, cross, etc.),more buttons need to be provided in the HMI, so the HMI will occupy alarge area of the leveling tool.

In order to reduce the number of buttons, a single button design hasbeen proposed, which allow the users to toggle ON/OFF of different typesof laser patterns in cycle. This may confuse the users when they want tocontrol one or a few specific laser patterns only.

SUMMARY

An object of the disclosure is to alleviate the deficiencies found inthe laser leveling tools which are resulted from physical press buttons.

For achieving this object, in one aspect, the disclosure provides alaser leveling tool comprising: gesture control means comprises at leastone sensor adapted to sense gestures and/or movements of a user; and acontroller in communication with the gesture control means for receivingsignals from the sensor and generating control commands for the toolbased on the received signals, the control commands comprising at leastON/OFF states of laser beam patterns that the tool can project.

According to a possible embodiment, there are at least two sensorsarranged at substantially the same height, and the controller isconfigured to generate a control command to activate a horizontal laserbeam when the user is swiping from a first one of the at least twosensors to a second one of the at least two sensors and to generate acontrol command to deactivate the horizontal laser beam when the user isswiping from the second one of the at least two sensors to the first oneof the at least two sensors.

According to a possible embodiment, there are least two sensors arrangedat different heights, and the controller is configured to generate acontrol command to activate a vertical laser beam when the user isswiping from one of the at least two sensors to another one of the atleast two sensors and to generate a control command to deactivate thevertical laser beam when the user is swiping from the another one of theat least two sensors to the one of the at least two sensors.

According to a possible embodiment, there is at least one sensor used tobe taped on by the user, and the controller is configured to generate acontrol command to activate/deactivate a plumb laser dot when the useris taping on this sensor.

According to a possible embodiment, there are at least two sensors to beswiped by the user, and the controller is configured to generate acontrol command to activate/deactivate a plumb laser dot when the useris swiping from one of the at least two sensors to another one of the atleast two sensors or from the another one of the at least two sensors tothe one of the at least two sensors.

According to a possible embodiment, the tool comprises an HMI, and atleast some of the sensors are arranged on or under a screen of the HMI.

According to a possible embodiment, the screen is provided with markscorresponding to the sensors for directing the user's swiping and/ortaping actions.

According to a possible embodiment, the tool comprises a housing, and atleast some of the sensors are arranged on the housing or at the innerside of the housing.

According to a possible embodiment, when the user is sensed by twosensors in sequence, there is a time delay between the signals of them,and the controller is configured to determine different laser on/offcommands based on the signals of the sensors and the time delays.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensors have a sensor range of10 to 20 mm.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensor is selected from infraredsensor, capacitive sensor, passive infrared sensor, resistive sensorand/or magnetic sensor.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensor comprises a sensor thatcan capture gestures and/or movements of the user when the user iswithin a capturing area of the sensor.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensor is configured to captureimages of the user when the user is exposed in an irradiation in thecapturing area of the sensor.

According to a possible embodiment, the irradiation comprises visible orinvisible light.

According to a possible embodiment, the laser leveling tool furthercomprises an emitter configured to emit the visible or invisible light.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensors have a sensor range ofseveral meters to dozens of meters.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensor is selected from camera,infrared sensor and/or passive infrared sensor.

According to a possible embodiment, the sensor has an adjustable sensorrange.

In accordance with the disclosure, the leveling tool comprises gesturecontrol functionalities to substitute the physical press buttons used intraditional leveling tools. In operation of the leveling tool, commandscan be inputted by the swiping or taping actions of the user's body, andno press down action is needed. Deficiencies in the laser leveling toolsresulted from physical press buttons are eliminated.

Other advantages and aspects of the disclosure will be described in thedetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be further understood by reading the followingdetailed description with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a laser leveling toolaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic back view of the laser leveling tool of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an HMI of the laser leveling toolaccording to a short distance approach embodiment of the disclosure,showing gesture control sensors and indication marks of the HMI;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic views showing actions that can be performedon the HMI for inputting commands to the leveling tool;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic perspective view of the laser leveling toolshowing gesture control functionalities provided at other locations ofthe leveling tool and actions that can be performed in related withthese gesture control functionalities;

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a laser leveling tool which isof a different type and is also equipped with gesture controlfunctionalities;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the principle of sensing a movingaction using two sensors according to the disclosure; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a laser leveling toolaccording to a long distance approach embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, the disclosure relates to a laser leveling tool. The laserleveling tool may be of any types and has any forms. Thus, thedisclosure will be described with reference to some particular forms,but the scope of the disclosure all covers other forms of laser levelingtools.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a laser leveling tool in which the technique of thedisclosure can be applied, wherein FIG. 1 shows the top, front and rightsides of the tool and FIG. 2 shows the back side of the tool. As can beseen, the tool comprises a housing 1 in which functional components ofthe tool are mounted. A front projection window 2 is exposed on thefront side of the housing 1, the front projection window 2 comprising ahorizontal branch and a vertical branch extending above from thehorizontal branch. Through the horizontal and vertical branches ahorizontal laser beam and a vertical laser beam can be projected outrespectively. A top projection window 3 through which a plumb laser dotcan be projected out is exposed on the top side of the housing 1.

On an oblique back side portion of the housing 1, there is provided withan HMI 4 by means of which a user can input commands to the tool andwhich can display information about the state and operation of the tool.

The basic idea of the disclosure is to remove the press-down physicalbuttons used in the HMIs of traditional tools, and for this purpose thetool is equipped with gesture control means for sensing the user'sgesture.

As an example, the HMI 4 is configured as the gesture control means thatcan sense gestures and/or motions of the user's body, especially hand orfinger, and transform the sensed gestures into input commands forcontrolling the operation of the tool.

For sensing the gestures of the user, it is belied that short distanceapproach and long distance approach can be used here to achieve user'sgesture sensing.

As short distance approach, some proximity sensors are studied andevaluated. In general, the user's finger is near the gesture controlmeans, for example, in a short distance within 20 mm, so the workingrange of the sensors shall cover this distance range. Further, sensingprecision, stability (under various environmental conditions, such aslight, temperature and the like), sensitivity, etc. are also key factorsin selecting sensors. It is found that IR (infrared) sensors andcapacitive sensors meet almost all these requirements.

An IR sensor used here is equipped with an IR emitter for emitting IRrays and an IR receiver for sensing IR rays reflected from the user'shand or finger. When the user's finger is approaching the IR lightemitted from the IR emitter, the IR light will be reflected by thefinger, and the reflected IR light is sensed by the IR receiver. Theworking range of the IR sensor is adjustable, and is suitable for shortdistance use (for example, 10 to 20 mm).

A capacitive sensor used here can detect the change in capacitance whena user's finger touches or approaches the capacitive sensor. The sensorcan pass through glass or plastic, so the capacitive sensor can bemounted inside the housing. The working range of the capacitive sensoris also adjustable, and is suitable for short distance use (for example,10 to 20 mm).

It is understood that other types of proximity sensors, like passive IRsensors, resistive sensors, laser beam sensors, magnetic sensors, etc.may also meet the short distance approach requirements, possibly withsome necessary adaption; for example, when passive IR sensors are used,some particularly designed lenses may needed for hand gesture sensing ina short distance.

Then, the HMI 4 is modified as gesture control means that incorporatesproximity sensors having a working range of 10 to 20 mm. The proximitysensors are arranged in a pattern, suitable for sensing the gesture of auser's finger, within the range of the HMI 4. A particular pattern isshown in FIG. 3 , in which sensors S1, S2 and S3 are arranged in atransverse line, and sensors S4, S2 and S5 are arranged in alongitudinal line, the transverse line and the longitudinal lineintersecting at the sensor S2. A sensor S6 is arranged in thelongitudinal line below the lowest sensor S5, although it can bealternatively arranged at other locations of the HMI 4.

When the sensor fields of the sensors S1 to S6 (for example, capacitivesensors) can pass through the screen of the HMI 4, the sensors can bemounted under the screen. On the other hand, when the sensor fields ofthe sensors S1 to S6 cannot pass through the screen of the HMI 4, thesensors can be mounted to the screen.

The transverse sensors S1, S2 and S3 can be used for sensing asubstantially transverse (horizontal) movement of the user's finger, thelongitudinal sensors S4, S2 and S5 can be used for sensing asubstantially longitudinal (vertical) movement of the user's finger, andthe sensor S6 can be used for sensing the tap of the user's finger. Fordirecting the actions of the user's finger, a cross mark 5 is formed onthe screen corresponding to the transverse sensors S1, S2 and S3 and thelongitudinal sensors S4, S2 and S5, and a spot or circular tap mark 6 isformed on the screen corresponding to the sensor S6.

As shown in FIG. 4 , when the user's finger approaches and moves alongthe branches of the cross mark 5 in horizontal and/or verticaldirections as indicated by arrowed lines, the transverse or longitudinalsensors sense the action of the user's finger, and a controller of thetool receives signals from the sensors to determine the user's purposeand then generate corresponding commands to control the tool to turnon/off a horizontal laser beam and/or a vertical laser beam through thefront projection window 2. For example, when the finger is moved fromthe sensor S1 to S3, the horizontal laser beam is turned on, and whenthe finger is moved from the sensor S3 to S1, the horizontal laser beamis turned off; when the finger is moved from the sensor S5 to S4, thevertical laser beam is turned on, and when the finger is moved from thesensor S4 to S5, the vertical laser beam is turned off.

As shown in FIG. 5 , when the user's finger taps on the tap mark 6, thesensor S6 senses the action of the user's finger and a controller of thetool generated corresponding commands to control the tool to turn on aplumb laser dot through the top window 3, and when the finger taps onthe tap mark 6 again, the plumb laser dot is turned off.

Alternatively or in addition, the tool may comprise sensors arranged inother locations to form gesture control means. As an example, as shownin FIGS. 6 and 7 , a sensor Sa is arranged near a first end of thehorizontal branch of the front projection window 2, and a sensor Sb isarranged near a second end of the horizontal branch of the frontprojection window 2. A sensor Sc is arranged near a top-front edge ofthe housing 1 above the vertical branch of the front projection window2, and a sensor Sd is arranged near a top-back edge of the housing 1,the sensors S c and Sd being at opposite sides of the top window 3. Thesensors Sa to Sd can be mounted either in the inner side of the housing1 or on the housing 1, depending on whether their sensor fields can passthrough the housing 1 or not.

The controller of the tool can receive signals from the sensors Sa to Sdand generates corresponding commands to control the tool to turn on/offthe laser beams. For example, as shown in FIG. 6 , when the figure moveshorizontally from the sensor Sa to the sensor Sb, the horizontal laserbeam is turned on, and when the figure moves horizontally from thesensor Sb to the sensor Sa, the horizontal laser beam is turned off;when the figure moves vertically from the sensor Sa or Sb to the sensorSc, the vertical laser beam is turned on, and when the figure movesvertically from the sensor Sc to the sensor Sa or Sb, the vertical laserbeam is turned off; when the finger moves from the sensor Sc to thesensor Sd or taps on one of the sensors Sc and Sd, the plumb laser dotis turned on, and when the finger moves from the sensor Sd to the sensorSc, or taps on the other one of the sensors Sc and Sd, or taps on theone of the sensors Sc and Sd again, the plumb laser dot is turned off.

Other types of actions of the finger, such as taping on two sensors atthe same time, swiping over three or more sensor in a non-linear path,etc., may be used by the controller to generate other commands.

Other types laser beam on/off operations can be achieved by arrangingcorresponding sensors and correlating the input commands with the sensedsignals of the sensors.

The gesture control means formed by sensors of the disclosure is alsoapplicable in other types of tools. For example, for a tool with turrets7 and 8 as shown in FIG. 8 , sensors Sa and Sb may be disposed below thefront turret 7, a sensor Sc may be disposed on the front turret 7, and asensor Sd may be disposed on the top turret 8. Laser on/off togglingoperations related with the sensors Sa to Sd may be similar to thatdescribed with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 .

It is understood that, for all the embodiments of the disclosure, theturning on/or off of all the laser beams (horizontal, vertical, dot,cross or the like) can be achieved by taping on corresponding sensors orswiping (moving) between corresponding sensors. However, swiping betweensensors can provide higher reliability, which can be understood withreference to FIG. 9 .

FIG. 9 shows signals of two sensors. When the finger approaches thefirst sensor, the state of the output of the first sensor changes (forexample, jumps), and when the finger moves to and approaches the secondsensor, the state of the output of the second sensor changes (forexample, jumps). There is a trigger delay Δt, for example, 75 ms to 750ms from the change of the state of the output of the first sensor andthe change of the state of the output of the second sensor. The triggerdelay Δt can prevent false trigger of the turning on/or off of the laserbeams. Different trigger delays may be used by the controller fordetermining different laser on/off commands.

According to another aspect of the disclosure as shown in FIG. 10 ,gesture control means of long distance approach may comprise a sensor(for example, CMOS sensor) 10 that can sense gestures and/or motions ofthe user's body in a relatively long distance, for example, in severalmeters to dozens of meters, such as in about 10 meters. The sensor 10may be mounted to or in the housing 1, for example, at the back side ofthe laser leveling tool. The sensor range of the sensor 10 may also beadjustable. Sensed signals of the sensor 10 are transmitted to thecontroller for determining the user's purpose and then generatingcorresponding commands to control the operation of the laser levelingtool (similar to that described with reference to short distanceapproach embodiments). There may be more than one sensor 10 in the laserleveling tool.

The sensor 10 of long distance approach may be a sensor that can captureimages of the user's body when the user is exposed in an irradiation ina capturing area of the sensor 10. For example, the irradiation may bevisible or invisible light. The irradiation may come from theenvironment light or come from as irradiation emitter 11 of the laserleveling tool.

The irradiation emitter 11, if any, may be also mounted to or in thehousing 1, and there may be more than one irradiation emitter 11 in thelaser leveling tool.

As an example of the long distance approach sensor 10, those that cancapture images of the user can be used here. For example, the sensor 10may be micro cameras that can capture the user's image in visible light.

As an example of the long distance approach sensor 10, IR sensors orpassive IR sensors may be used here for capturing the user's images ininvisible lights. For an IR sensor, it comprises an IR emitter and an IRreceiver. The IR emitter emits IR rays. The IR rays emitted from the IRemitter is irradiated onto the user's body, and then images of theuser's body when exposed in the IR rays can be sensed by the IPreceiver. For a passive IR sensor, it may comprise only an IR receiverfor sensing the user's body when exposed in the IR rays come fromenvironment light.

Other types of long distance approach sensors (with or without anirradiation source) can also be used here.

The short and long distance approaches may be used in combination in thesame laser leveling tool.

As can be seen, according to the disclosure, the laser leveling toolcomprises gesture control means to substitute the physical press buttonsused in traditional leveling tools. In operation of the leveling tool,commands can be inputted by swiping, taping or other types of actions ofthe user's finger, hand or body, and no press down action is needed.Deficiencies in the laser leveling tools resulted from physical pressbuttons are eliminated.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure. The disclosure are intended to cover all themodifications, substitutions and changes as would fall within the scopeand spirit of the disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A laser leveling tool comprising: a gesturecontrol device having at least one sensor configured to sense at leastone of gestures and movements of a user; and a controller incommunication with the gesture control device and configured to (i)receive signals from the at least one sensor and (ii) generate controlcommands for the laser leveling tool based on the received signals, thecontrol commands at least including control commands configured tocontrol on and off states of laser beam patterns projected by the laserleveling tool.
 2. The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein: the atleast one sensor includes at least two sensors arranged at heights thatare substantially similar; and the controller is configured to (i)generate a control command configured to activate a horizontal laserbeam in response to the user swiping from a first sensor of the at leasttwo sensors to a second sensor of the at least two sensors and (ii)generate a control command configured to deactivate the horizontal laserbeam in response to the user swiping from the second sensor of the atleast two sensors to the first sensor of the at least two sensors. 3.The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein: the at least one sensorincludes least two sensors arranged at different heights; and thecontroller is configured to (i) generate a control command configured toactivate a vertical laser beam in response to the user swiping from afirst sensor of the at least two sensors to a second sensor of the atleast two sensors and (ii) generate a control command configured todeactivate the vertical laser beam in response to the user swiping fromthe second sensor of the at least two sensors to the first sensor of theat least two sensors.
 4. The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein:the at least one sensor includes a first sensor configured to sense atapping on the first sensor by the user; and the controller isconfigured to generate a control command configured to one of activateand deactivate a plumb laser dot in response to the user tapping thefirst sensor.
 5. The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein: the atleast one sensor includes at least two sensors configured to sense aswiping on the at least two sensors by the user; and the controller isconfigured to generate a control command configured to one of activateand deactivate a plumb laser dot in response to one of (i) the userswiping from a first sensor of the at least two sensors to a secondsensor of the at least two sensors and (ii) from the second sensor ofthe at least two sensors to the first sensor of the at least twosensors.
 6. The laser leveling tool of claim 1 further comprising: ahuman-machine interface (HMI), wherein at least one of the at least onesensor is one of (i) arranged on a screen of the HMI and (ii) arrangedunder the screen of the HMI.
 7. The laser leveling tool of claim 6,wherein the screen has at least one mark corresponding to the at leastone of the at least one sensor that directs the user in performing atleast one of swiping actions and tapping actions.
 8. The laser levelingtool of claim 1 further comprising: a housing, wherein at least one ofthe at least one sensor is one of (i) arranged on the housing and (ii)arranged at an inner side of the housing.
 9. The laser leveling tool ofclaim 1, wherein: in response to when the user being sensed by twosensors of the at least one sensor in sequence, there is a time delaybetween respective signals of the two sensors; and the controller isconfigured to generate control commands configured to one of turn on andturn off a laser based on the respective signals of the two sensors andthe time delay.
 10. The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein the atleast one sensor has a sensor range between 10 mm and 20 mm.
 11. Thelaser leveling tool of claim 10, wherein the at least one sensorincludes at least one of an infrared sensor, a capacitive sensor, apassive infrared sensor, a resistive sensor, and a magnetic sensor. 12.The laser leveling tool of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor isconfigured to capture the at least one of the gestures and the movementsof the user while the user is within a capturing area of the at leastone sensor.
 13. The laser leveling tool of claim 11, wherein the atleast one sensor is configured to capture images of the user while theuser is exposed in an irradiation in the capturing area of the sensor.14. The laser leveling tool of claim 13, wherein the irradiation is oneof (i) visible light and (ii) invisible light.
 15. The laser levelingtool of claim 14 further comprising: an emitter configured to emit theone of (i) the visible light and (ii) the invisible light.
 16. The laserleveling tool of claim 12, wherein the at least one sensor has have asensor range of about 10 meters.
 17. The laser leveling tool claim 12,wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of a camera, aninfrared sensor, and a passive infrared sensor.
 18. The laser levelingtool of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor has an adjustablesensor range.